Electronic components may include passive cooling elements to discharge heat produced during the operation of the electronic component. There has been a steady increase of power converted by electronic components and at the same time miniaturization of the structural elements used. This leads to increases in the quantity of heat in relation to available surface area of the electronic component. The increasingly small contact surfaces between the electronic components and the cooling members or media which are used make effective removal of heat from the electronic components difficult. Of course, reliable removal of heat is a prerequisite for correct function of the circuits which are produced with the electronic components.
In conventional cooling member technologies, cooling members, for example, of aluminum, provide an assembly side which can be placed on a boundary of the electronic component. The cooling members often have ribs to increase the surface for heat discharge and can, for example, be produced in aluminum in a cost-effective manner as an extruded profile. However, the possible heat discharge of such passive coolers is linked with physical limits so that conventional cooling elements during heat removal reach their power limits.
In place of aluminum, a more highly thermally conductive metal, such as copper, can also be selected. However, such cooling members may be uneconomical as a result of higher material and production costs.
Active cooling includes forced convection of a cooling medium, for example air, moved by means of a fan or a liquid which can be used, for example, in so-called heat pipes. Such heat removal solutions are also more expensive than passive cooling and additionally also less reliable so that it is desirable to dispense with an active cooling solution.